Saint Patrick’s Day: Five of the Finest Fighting Irish

Saint Patrick was a fearless man whose combat skills were so sophisticated he managed to chase all the snakes out of Ireland (citation needed). In honor of his mass serpent sabotage and his feast day, we looked at some of the finest fighters to hail from Emerald Isle.

Jimmy McLarnin

A lot of people will call bullshit on this because Jimmy McLarnin spent most of his life in Canada, but considered 'The Greatest Irish Fighter of All Time', the two-time welterweight world champion was born in County Down to a Methodist Dublin father who married a woman from Belfast.

Beginning his career as a flyweight, McLarnin fought for the lightweight title in 1928, but he really found his feet at welterweight. After beating Italian-American Young Corbett III to obtain the welterweight title, he lost it in his first defense to his great rival Barney Ross at the Madison Square Garden Bowl, which won The Ring Magazine's 'Fight of the Year' for 1934. McLarnin won the belt back from Ross four months later, before Ross reclaimed it eight months after their rematch.

Aside from his boxing skills, McLarnin's ring names are some of the most entertaining titles you will hear. Known as the 'Beltin' Celt', 'Dublin Dynamiter', 'Dublin Destroyer', 'Murderous Mick', 'The Belfast Spider', 'The Jew Killer', 'The Jew Beater', 'Hebrew Scourge' and 'The Irish Lullaby', the edgy names are a great reminder of the cultural differences that existed during his heyday.

Steve Collins

The 'Cabra Cobra' and later, 'The Celtic Warrior', Steve Collins gave Irish fans one of the definitive moments in the nation's sporting history when he toppled the great Chris Eubank to take his super-middleweight title on the day following St Patrick's Day in 1995. In their rematch six months later, Collins won a split decision before beating another British standout two times, Nigel Benn.

A lot of parallels can be drawn between the careers of Collins and 'The Notorious' Conor McGregor. Collins was famous for his mastery of the mental game and even convinced Eubank that he had been hypnotized to be a better fighter before they faced off for the first time. To this day, Eubank still highlights Collins' mind games as one of the key factors in the Irishman's victories over him.

Despite beating Chris Pyatt for the middleweight crown before meeting Eubank, Collins showed no fear in moving up a weight class to face the unstoppable English force who was one of the central figures in kicking off Sky's boxing programming in the UK and Ireland.

Barry McGuigan

Like Collins' victory over Eubank, Monaghan man Barry McGuigan's meeting with Eusebio Pedroza for his WBA featherweight title in London packed 26,000 people into the Loftus Road Stadium in London. 'The Clones Cyclone' won Pedroza's belt in June 85', an honor which the Panamanian had held for eight years. On his return to the Emerald Isle, McGuigan was given a public reception in Belfast, which brought hundreds of thousands of people out to support their hero.

McGuigan later lost his title in another bout that won 'Fight of the Year' honors from The Ring, when he lost out to Steve Cruz at Ceasar's Palace in 1986. He is one of Ireland's best-loved sporting heroes to this day, and he remains instrumental on the scene as one of the leading men behind another man whose name will be heralded as an Irish great for years to come, super-bantamweight world champion Carl Frampton.

Katie Taylor

If UFC thinks "the whole of Ireland shuts down when Conor McGregor fights", the should have seen our little country when Katie Taylor went about her business in at the London Olympics where she became the first ever female lightweight Olympic champion.

Taylor is far more than one medal, though, and she has grounds to rival Ronda Rousey's former status as "the most dominant female in sports", as she has also won the word amateur championships and the European championships on five occasions.

At one stage Taylor was also rumored to be facing former UFC bantamweight champion, Holly Holm, before she made her switch to mixed-martial-arts.

Conor McGregor

As Ireland's first ever UFC champion, Conor McGregor is deserving of his place on the list of all-time Irish greats. The meteoric rise of the Irishman has captured the attention of the mainstream audiences, and the world now awaits to see how 'The Notorious' bounces back from his first loss in the Octagon to one of Stockton California's cult hero, Nate Diaz.

Despite some friction existing between the boxing and mixed martial arts communities internationally, another man on this list, Steve Collins, already considers McGregor the greatest fighter Ireland ever produced.

"He'll definitely be remembered as one of the greatest fighters this country has produced, in fact, I already think he's the greatest fighter Ireland has produced," Collins told Fightland in the lead up to UFC 196. "He's a savage once he steps in to fight, but he's a complete gentleman outside of the ring. That's it. He's going to be a double weight world champion, without a doubt."

Notable Mentions: Carl Frampton, Wayne McCullough, Andy Lee, Jack Doyle, Bernard Dunne.